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NOVA scienceNOW: Aging
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Program Overview
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Scientists examine biological attributes that contribute to defying
the odds and living a life that is much longer than expected.
This NOVA scienceNOW segment:
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states that only about 1 in 10,000 people defies the odds and
lives to be 100 years old.
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studies centenarians and people older than 90 who were born at
the turn of the 20th century, when life expectancy was 40 years,
to learn about the factors involved in longevity.
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explains that these individuals over 90 more easily overcome, or
are resistant to, serious diseases that tend to strike in
childhood and middle age.
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explains that high levels and very large molecules of HDL, or
"good" cholesterol, seem important to longevity.
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reports that centenarians' genes were studied to look for
commonalities among individuals and their differences from the
general population.
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describes experiments in which the food supply of yeast was cut,
and the yeast lived about 50 percent to 60 percent longer than
it normally would have.
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relates yeast experiments involving a mutation, in one of a
family of genes known as sirtuins, that boosts a DNA repair
mechanism, causing the yeast to live about 50 percent longer
than yeast that has the gene without the mutation.
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presents experiments, using the roundworm C. elegans, in
which a gene named Daph 2 was damaged, causing the roundworm's
insulin level to decrease and its life span to increase.
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points out that human longevity may be related to having genetic
mutations that trigger an increase in DNA repair.
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reports that red wine contains a chemical, resveratrol, that
seems to stimulate the sirtuin genes and may foster human
longevity.
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states that having different variants of longevity genes may
make some people resistant to age-related diseases.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program
is taped off the air.
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